Wells Fargo History Museum

Museum in California, United States

The Wells Fargo History Museum is a museum operated by Wells Fargo in its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California that feature exhibits about the company's history. Some of the museums' displays include original stagecoaches, photographs, gold nuggets and mining artifacts, the Pony Express, telegraphs and historic bank artifacts. The museum was initially known as the Wells Fargo History Room when it opened in 1927 in San Francisco. In 1935 a museum was opened for public tours. The museum has been operating for nearly 60 years in its current location.^[1]^[2]

Until 2020, when eleven of the museums were closed by Wells Fargo, it was a group of twelve museums operated in multiple cities in the United States. ^[3]

Museum closures

In 2020 Wells Fargo announced it would be permanently closing all but one of its museums announcing that the "museums do not align with our go-forward strategy as a company."^[4] and that "After evaluating our business and community strategies, we have decided to consolidate the program to focus on our San Francisco museum location and close the remaining 11 museum locations over the next 12 months."^[5] The Wells Fargo History Museum in its corporate headquarters of San Francisco, California was the only museum to remain open.

Closed museum locations

Financial Center in downtown Des Moines, Iowa^[6]
Three Wells Fargo Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
Wells Fargo Center in downtown Los Angeles, California
Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Wells Fargo Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wells Fargo Museum (Phoenix) at Wells Fargo Plaza in Phoenix, Arizona
Wells Fargo Center in Portland, Oregon
Wells Fargo Center in Sacramento, California
Alaska Heritage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska, which featured a large collection of Alaskan Native artifacts, ivory carvings and baskets, fine art by Alaskan artists, and displays about Wells Fargo history in the Alaskan Gold Rush era.
Wells Fargo History Museum in the Pony Express Terminal in Old Sacramento State Historic Park, which was the company's second office
Wells Fargo History Museum in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

References

^ Hudson, Caroline (September 2, 2020). "Wells Fargo to permanently shutter almost all of its museums". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
^ Mark Calvey (February 19, 2015). "Wells Fargo History Museum reopens after gold heist". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
^ Eisen, Ben. "WSJ News Exclusive | Wells Fargo Will Close Most of Its Corporate-History Museums". WSJ. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
^ Jett, Tyler. "Wells Fargo heritage museum in downtown Des Moines is history". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
^ Eisen, Ben (2020-09-01). "WSJ News Exclusive | Wells Fargo Will Close Most of Its Corporate-History Museums". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
^ Jett, Tyler (September 1, 2020). "Wells Fargo heritage museum in downtown Des Moines is history". Des Moines Register.